We'll meet again
by pelageia
Summary: Alec Lightwood meets a strange man called Magnus Bane when he's ten years old. Years later he'll meet him again not remembering their encounter. What will happen when memories start to resurface?
1. Cat eyes

"ALEXANDER GIDEON LIGHTWOOD"

It was the third time his mother had called for him. Although he really didn't understand what was so important that couldn't wait another five minutes. He just needed some more time for dressing up; after all it would be his fist day at the literature club. He needed to look presentable. He didn't want to be mocked by the other kids.

He'd been waiting for an opportunity to get out of the Institute for quite some time now and the club sounded like a good way to get passed his very protective mother. She had the habit of assuming that everything 10-year-olds like himself could come up with to pass their time involved danger in some way or another.

He could not really blame her for that since all his younger siblings seemed to be up to no good almost constantly. Izzy had just gotten herself into a demon fight the day before because she wanted to prove she was stronger than her brother. His mother had almost had a heart attack when seeing his sister after the fight. She'd lectured all of them about the dangers of going out on a hunt on their own especially since they were still in training and technically they were not even teenagers yet. His father had just sat on his chair quietly and told Maryse that if she wanted their children to be real Shadowhunters they'd need to learn early. The rest of the day both of his parents had spent quarrelling about the appropriate age at which to start going out on hunts.

He really couldn't stand it anymore. He'd never really been into the whole Shadowhunter business in the first place. He hated fighting and violence. The only part of his training he'd ever really enjoyed was archery. He liked staying op late and training hard to finally hit the target. He was fairly good at it now but he really didn't want to be a fighter the rest of his life that he knew for sure.

"**ALEC**"

Alec sighed. His mother was driving him crazy. He ran down the institute's steps rather quickly in order to avoid his mothers growing wrath.

"Yes, calm down. I'm here."

"Took you long enough! Now I want to go over this again: I will escort you to your book club. You will go in. Stay there for the entire club session and come down immediately afterwards. Do you hear me? No lingering around!"

"Yes I got it. Mum it's just a children's book club after all. Who do you think is going to be there? A demon who slaughters people and goes to a book club reading for kids afterwards to chill out?"

"He wouldn't "chill out", he'd relax, Alexander. Use proper vocabulary! And don't make fun of this. There may be danger even when you least expect it to be so!"

* * *

After finally arriving at the book club and getting rid of his mother Alec really didn't know what to do with himself. He just sat at the corner of the room waiting for it to be slowly filled with kids of his own age. A lot of them had already started to form groups and talk to each other. He, however, had no idea of what to do now. He'd never really been out of the institute for a long time. Needless to say he usually didn't mingle with kids. He was usually surrounded by his siblings and adults from the Clave. He'd never really tried to fit in either. He'd never liked social gatherings. They always made him feel uncomfortable. Which was one of the reasons why he wanted to take part in a club. He wanted to be part of a group but most importantly he wanted to make friends. However, this was more of his sister's field of expertise. Isabelle always knew haw to make people like her. Of course only when she wanted to which at the moment was rare enough.

He could see more and more of the kids arriving by the minute and he still couldn't figure out how to talk to them. His hands were getting sweaty and he started to feel a bit weak. Suddenly he felt a cold shiver running down his spine. He turned towards the door were a pair of cat like eyes were watching him intently.


	2. Breaking the rules

Alec could feel his heart beat getting unhealthily fast. He could feel adrenaline rushing though his body. This was wrong. Just incredibly wrong. How could a Downworlder be here at a children's book club? He remembered joking about it earlier. Suddenly the idea didn't seem funny at all anymore. He tried to focus on what he had learned during training but at the moment his mind was just blank. He didn't even carry any weapons. What was he supposed to do?

Only then did he realize that the warlock was not gazing at him anymore. He had turned around and walked into one of the aisles with books. Alec could feel himself relax a little bit.

He knew he had two options: Either pretend he hadn't seen anything and focus on the club meeting or follow the warlock. Now, it was clear what his mother would do to him if she ever found out that he had spied after a Downworlder without any adult supervision.

Suddenly Alec had the burning desire to act against his mother's rules and behave like a normal irresponsible kid for once in his life. He was always the one sticking to the rules. His mother never had to remind him of any possible danger. She only ever had to remind Izzy about it: Don't put your hand on the stovetop! Don't play with matches! Don't draw irazes on your sleeping brother for practice!

And although his mother had reminded them that it was vital to follow these rules for their own safety, nothing had ever really happened. Sure they had to buy new curtains for Isabelle's room after the incident with the matchbox, and of course he hadn't been particularly pleased when his sister had found out that there was a more realistic and hands-on approach for practicing runes. But in the end nobody had actually gotten hurt. Why shouldn't he do something dumb and childish just ones? After all, the warlock hadn't even recognised that he was a Shadowhunter. He was a mere kid. The Downworlder would surly not even pay any attention to him. Also warlocks were usually not dangerous for Shadowhunter, were they? Not since the Accords at least.

His fear forgotten and taking a deep breath, Alec silently followed the warlock. He wondered what a warlock would want in a library full of books written by mortals. He surly didn't need any of the books in here. Alec just couldn't picture a Downworlder in a human environment it just seemed weird. Also the books in here were most likely not about warlocks, vampires or werewolves. Not the real ones at least. He had however seen a lot of the fictional stuff about Downworlders. It was ridiculous what some people thought supernatural creatures were like. His sister loved to read those novels. She'd always run to him when she'd found a particular funny passage. He had however the feeling that she only did that to have a legitimate reason for reading them, so nobody made fun of her if they ever found out she was actually enjoying the novels. She might have had their parents fooled but certainly not Alec. He didn't like the books at all. Most of the time they were either cheesy romances or gruesome massacres. Those seemed to be the only two options. Also, Izzy was getting far too fond of vampire love stories.

He suddenly realised that the warlock had stopped in front of a bookshelf that looked rather old. The man began to search for a book while Alec hid behind a shelf. The warlock hadn't noticed him so far, he realised with glee. Now that he was intently watching the Downworlder in front of him Alec studied the warlocks appearance. He wore a huge black cloak that basically covered his whole body. Alec wondered why anybody would wear a cloak in summer. It was much too hot for that. Probably he didn't want to be recognized? Though the unusual piece of clothing certainly achieved the opposite effect. Alec now saw that he had a very interesting skin colour, which was not easy to describe. It was sort of brownish and looked really attractive. Attractive? Where exactly were his thoughts going? Alec wondered whether those supernatural romance novels his sister read were affecting him for some reason. He really had to stop were his thoughts were heading and focus on the task at hand.

The warlock seemed ignorant to his observer, Alec noticed relieved. He was still looking for a book and his hands were gliding along the spines of the books while his cat eyes searched hastily for something. Alec couldn't help but feel a shudder go through him when watching the long elegant finger caress the inanimate objects. Alec wondered what was wrong with him that he thought about a warlock in that way. Probably he was getting a cold. That had to be it. His mind was getting confused because me was in need of medicine. Or a psychologist a vicious voice in his head suggested.

Not liking at all where his wayward thoughts went Alec tried to concentrate on the warlock. His gaze dropped to the floor when he suddenly saw a flash of turquoise. The Shadowhunter belatedly realized that the subject of his observations was wearing turquoise slippers. And fluffy ones at that, not those you could wear outside of your own home. Alec didn't even have time to wonder why somebody would wear those, when all of a sudden the bookshelf in front of the warlock made a creaking noise and swung to the side, giving way to a staircase leading down into darkness.

"So, can I help you little Shadowhunter or do you want to stand there with your mouth open for much longer?"

The warlock looked expectantly and grinning like a Cheshire cat at the boy in front of him.


	3. The warlock and the frog

For some reason Alec had forgotten how to speak. He looked up at the man with the cat eyes that seemed to pierce through him and he had no idea what to say or do.

"Ahm", was the only thing that after a little while came out of his mouth.

The warlock seemed to enjoy the show in front of him. He grinned again wickedly and bent forward. Stopping only millimetres before Alecs face he said: " Now you only have to use phonemes and morphemes and you might even be capable of forming words."

Alec didn't even pay attention to what exactly the Downworlder said. The only thing he could think about was how incredibly close the other mans face was and how his lips formed word after word. He was starting to get lost in those green and yellow eyes when he realised that a reaction was expected from him. Not having heard the sentence before the boy only replied with a miserable "Hm?".

Cat eyes seemed to find this particularly funny and continued: "Well that's a start. Now What shall I do to you? …Well, I could always turn you into something funny like a mouse or a frog. Though the latter would probably be the better idea, I could kiss you and turn you back into a pretty little boy. It would be a shame to have a pretty thing like yourself be permanently turned into an amphibian, wouldn't you agree?"

That seemed to have an effect on Alec as he replied: "Kiss me?" which seemed to be the only important piece of information that he'd decided to remember. Simultaneously he also blushed and cursed his brain to mouth filter for being out of service.

The warlock raised his brows in question: "Really? That's the only thing you kept from my little speech?" Only then did he realise that the boy had already lost interest in his talking and was staring bluntly and hypnotised into his eyes like a toddler in front of a candy store. Magnus sighed. It really hadn't been his day so far. Two enchanted werewolves who had only been able to bark because some fairy had thought it was a particular good joke. It had taken ages before he'd been able to find an antidote. Especially because obviously talking to his clients had proved to be a challenge. Then there had been that obnoxious pixie who had wanted him to turn her hair pink because she was allergic against hair dye. Unfortunately she also seemed to be allergic against sitting still for longer than a minute and not causing any problems. His apartment had looked like a mess because she'd enjoyed wrecking his stuff. Then there had been this damn warlock boy who for some reason had managed to get an easy snow spell wrong. In the end he couldn't go anywhere without having a snow flurry just above his head following him around. Magnus had made the mistake of wanting to help the boy then and there instead of getting a more advanced spell book on weather. And now he had jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire. His whole apartment was currently experiencing a minor snowstorm. Sure the boy warlock had been cured of the problem, but now Magnus needed to figure out how to make the snowing stop and weather magic really wasn't his field of expertise.

The last time he'd done it there had been a storm in Germany. Nobody had gotten hurt except for his friend Ragnor Fell. But what were friend for? Aside from that he'd had to promise never to try weather magic again. And he had never needed to do it until now. He knew that there was a special book about snow magic in the warlock section of this library and he had wanted to go there quickly and solve the problem. Now he had a prepubescent Shadowhunter to take care of, who was currently looking as if he were about to drool. Really, what was it with the kids these days? Video games and the Internet really seemed to have an effect on their brain activity, at least on this particular representative of the genus. Well, at least he looked pretty.

Magnus remembered why he was here again and began to descend down the steps, his long cloak touching the ground. It really bothered him that he didn't have the time to change into something more suited for himself but he had to hurry and he hadn't had the time to worry about his appearance.

He realised that the Boy was following him. Magnus smiled, the blue-eyed Shadowhunter looked like a puppy trotting after its owner. Finally, they arrived in the warlock section of the library. He looked for the shelf he was searching for and found it immediately. Turning around to look for the Shadowhunter he saw the boy looking in confusion around the room taking in the chaos and disarray before he continued to stare at Magnus in awe. What was it with that kid? Had he never seen a warlock before? It was not like Magnus didn't enjoy the attention but he was beginning to worry that something was wrong with the boy.

Magnus turned his attention back to the task at hand. He had to bring a key for this Bookshelf because it contained the more advanced and difficult spells that were not meant for everybody.

Meanwhile Alec was still fascinated by how the other man moved and talked. It was like watching a fascinating animal at the zoo. You were just waiting for it to do something extraordinary. The part of Alecs brain that was still semi-functional was bombarding him with questions. Why are you still staring at him? Why do you think he's attractive? Are you nuts? He's a warlock for god's sake and probably a couple of millennia older than you! Why are you still here? You should be running for the hills right now! He has to think you're an idiot for behaving like this!

Suddenly Magnus cried out "No, No, NO" after searching his pocket for some time. "Where is it? Where the hell did I put it?"

Alec who finally regained his ability to speak asked: "What are you searching for?"

That stopped Magnus and his rant. "So you can talk." He seemed relived. "Not that that will help me of course, but it's nice that you're finally talking."

Alec looked at him expectantly.

"Oh , yes of course your question. I was searching for the key to this shelf."

Alec looked confused. "Can't you open it with magic?"

Magnus sighed exasperatedly: "No, you see blue-eyes that's sort of the point. If you only want certain warlocks to have access to certain books you'll have to guard it against magic. Magic won't help me here at all."

Alec blushed instantly when he heard the name Magnus had given him. Also this seemed to do away with what little control he had had over his mind, meaning he was again staring at the warlock in awe.

Realising this Magnus sighed: "Oh no! Not again."


	4. Back to the Future

8 years later

Alec sighed; he hated parties. And this party included vampires and faeries so it was meant to end in disaster. Also he really didn't like this Clary girl. She was always near Jace as if she had a claim on him. They had come here to search for Magnus Bane, the warlock that put the block into Clary's mind. Alec was still confused because of the admittedly handsome warlock with the cat eyes. Weirdly, he found himself gaping at the Downworlder for no explicit reason. It was similar to what he felt when he was near Jace.

_Don't go there_ his subconscious snarled. _You really shouldn't think about him in that way. He's your brother! _

_Well, only adoptive brother_ the suppressed part of his brain threw in. God, he really needed to stop these mental dialogues. Also, he really couldn't help it. He'd had a crush on Jace for what seemed like forever. He couldn't remember ever having such feelings for anybody else.

Funnily enough he couldn't recall gaping at his brother the way he gaped at Magnus. Sure he'd looked at Jace admiringly for a couple of seconds when he thought nobody was watching. But standing beside Magnus really threw him off balance.

Peculiarly, Alec felt as if he'd seen Magnus before he just couldn't put his finger on it. It was like a dream he'd forgotten and it really bothered him. He usually wasn't of the forgetful sort.

While he tried to figure out where he knew Magnus from, a phouka who was brown-skinned and rather thin was suddenly standing in front of him grinning like a lunatic. "Haven't seen you in a long time, blue eyes."

The phouka suddenly jumped toward him and gave him a hug. Alec really didn't know what to do. As far as he could remember he'd never hugged a phouka. And again there was this feeling that the creature knew something and he didn't.

"What the hell! I don't even know you! What are you doing?" Alec exclaimed.

The phouka looked startled "What? I'm offended. Of course we know each other. Magnus, you and me go way back."

Alec felt as if he was going to be sick. "What do you mean? I've never seen you before."

The phouka smiled " Of course, you have handsome. We met the day Magnus had that snowstorm in his apartment and I think you were supposed to attend a book club that day, though that never happened. I think you were about ten years old."

The faery had to be drunk. That was the only explanation he could come up with. How could a snowstorm be inside an apartment? And he'd surly never wanted to be part of a book club. Moreover, his mother would have never allowed him to spend time with Downworlders.

But why did he have the uncanny feeling that the phouka wasn't lying? Something was up and Alec was going to get to the bottom of it. The faery somehow noticed Alec's absentmindedness and was starting to feel bored. He decided to leave Alec to his thoughts when he suddenly remembered how he'd said goodbye to the boy the last time they'd met.

Grinning sheepishly he walked past Alec and groped the boy on his backside. Alec yelped loudly and took a leap forward. The phouka disappeared into the crowd, laughing loudly.


	5. The Bet

Past

Magnus was debating whether he should go back to his apartment and get the bookshelves key. But that would take up too much time. Making a portal was also out of the question because after his busy day he was already pretty much drained of his energy. He had to come up with a solution ASAP or his apartment would overflow with snow and sooner or later the neighbours were bound to notice that. The currently zoned out Shadowhunter boy would not be of any help either.

"Alec, my name is Alec." The boy said timidly.

Magnus looked up startled, he hadn't noticed that the boy had snapped out of his daze. "What?"

The boy blushed. "You called me blue-eyes just now, but my name is Alec."

"Well good for you", the warlock responded, "though Alec is a rather weird name if you ask me. Is that an abbreviation?" He was already focusing on the task at hand and wasn't really paying attention to their conversation.

"My full name is Alexander. What's yours?" the boy asked.

"Alexander. Well that's more like it. I'm Magnus." The warlock replied distracted.

"Magnus? And you think my name is weird?" He was watching the warlock intently and wondered what he'd do now about the bookshelf.

His last comment seemed to have gotten a reaction out of Magnus as he turned around and looked at him. Alec still felt insecure under the warlocks piercing gaze.

Magnus grinned, "Well excuse me smart-alec for having bigger problems than making your acquaintance."

Alec blushed again fiercely. "I can help you to open that bookshelf if you want."

The warlock looked at the boy his brows raised in question. "You want to help me to open a Bookshelf protected from magic? Believe me Alexander if I can't open that shelf than you won't be able to do it either. You still have a lot to learn my young Padawan."

Magnus hugged himself inwardly for the Star Wars quote though the boy didn't seem to get what he was saying at all.

"What's a Padawan?" Alec wondered aloud.

Magnus sighed. "They really don't let you out of that institute and into the human world often, do they?"

Alec was incredibly confused and annoyed. Not only did Magnus talk in riddles but he also made fun of him. The warlock saw him as a little boy who had no idea about anything. Well Alec was going to prove him wrong.

"Okay, then lets make a bet. I'll try to open the bookshelf and if I win you have to give me something I want."

Magnus laughed. "And when you can't open it? What do I get?"

"Whatever you want." Alec answered.

Magnus grinned. "You know that's pretty unfair since I'm a warlock and can conjure up anything a ten-year-old might want, but you're only a boy. What could you possibly give me that I can't get for myself?"

Alec looked a bit crestfallen after that. "I don't know. ", he said lamely.

Magnus looked at the boy more closely: He had tousled black hair and beautiful blue eyes. He didn't look much of a brutal warrior like other Nephilim, but than again he was only a boy. Magnus decided to take pity on him. "You know what? If you loose you'll promise me never to follow any Downworlder without your parents' supervision again. Not all warlocks are as friendly as me, you know."

Alec looked up at Magnus and smiled. It was the first time the warlock saw the boy smile and he looked breath taking. He would surly be a ladies' man when grown up, Magnus mused. _Too bad_ Magnus thought. _What exactly are you thinking about Bane? He's a boy. Pull yourself together! _

Alec who had no idea were the warlocks thoughts were currently straying took a step towards the bookshelf and wanted to get to work when Magnus held him back.

"Wait a minute there, blue eyes. What exactly is it you want from me if you win?"

The nickname once again threw Alec off his tracks and he blushed fiercely. Belatedly he said the first thing that came to mind: " A kiss."


End file.
